Last Days

Our last days in Okinawa were spent finishing up final to-dos and enjoying our favorite things on the island.  During the last night in our apartment, there was a large fireworks display outside our window.  We have watched many of these over the years, but this display had some new designs, like this one that exploded near the surface of the water.  It was pretty amazing.

We ate at Sams-by-the-Sea, complete with fruity drinks and paper bibs.

And, the oh-so-good curry soup with garlic croutons.

And then there was the last pedicure at Cocoks....I chose a black color with colorful flowers and yellow butterflies. I wanted something tropical to remind me of the island.

During our last days on the island we lived in the WestPac, a hotel on base.  It was an extremely busy week with Noa tying up lose ends at work, getting the Capa sold, saying good-bye to friends, and checking out of our apartment.  On travel day, July 24, we loaded up a couple cars with suitcases and dog crates and headed to the airport.  The dogs were pretty anxious at the airport, but I think I was worse.  I was very nervous about flying the dogs since they had to be in separate crates and fly in the cargo area of the plane.  It didn't help that we had to wait in a massive line that seemed to move at a snail's pace.

Gunnar kept nervously licking the inside of his crate while we waited in line.

We landed in Seattle-Tacoma airport on the same day, after about 16 hours of travel, we grabbed our bags and headed to the opposite area of the baggage claim to pick up our pups and see how they fared.  Although they were crying a little, they looked like they were in good shape and ready to get out of the crates.

They weren't covered in filth, which I was afraid would happen, so we didn't have to worry about cleaning them up right away, but I knew they were crossing their legs.  So, we whisked the crates outta there and headed outside to give them a much needed bathroom break.  After that, we got in line for a rental car and prepared for our next adventure in Washington!

Eat Up and Have Some Cake

Our refrigerator gets picked up on Friday.  We are doing all we can to eat and drink everything in the fridge before Thursday night when we have to unplug it.

Tonight's menu: frozen pizza, frozen broccoli, and Orion beer.  Check out the festive packaging with Okinawan Eisa drummers.

One of myy favorite things about Orion is their tag line...

Gotta love it!  Well, except for the price tag.  This 6-pack costs over $10 from a local grocery store!

On a completely random note....it's my sister's birthday!  Happy birthday, Anoli!  For those of you that don't know An, she's my one and only sibling (besides the dear sisters-in-law) and lives in NH so I don't get to see her near enough.  Oh, and she's awesome.  Really, she is pretty darn great.  She is one of the most sincere people I know and is super talented, although she would never admit it.  Anoli can build a wall in the day and then dance up a storm on the dance floor at night.  She's way better at karaoke and can hold her own in an ultimate frisbee game.  She's creative and funny and just a great person to be around.  Best of all, I always have fun with her and I have great memories of our childhood together.  So, happy birthday to my all-around fabulous sister!  Love you, An!  Hope your birthday cake is yummy and your day is fun!

Here's a photo of us from 2007 when the family came out to Okinawa.  We both look pretty different now, but I love that she was able to come out here and enjoy the island with me.

"Snack" Pineapple

One of my families (from school) brought me a treat the other day that they had picked up from a local farmer: a "snack" pineapple.  It looks like this:

I put an apple next to it to show that it's not very big.  To "open" it, you have to twist it apart, like this:

Then pull apart the two halves:

To eat, pull off the small sections individually or in chunks:

And then it's ready to enjoy...yum!

Please excuse the post workout look here.

It's very sweet, even sweeter than "regular" pineapple.  I liked it, but did find it a tad messy since it's a juicy finger food.  I'll definitely be keeping my eyes out for these during our last two months here.

Oki Photo Shoot

We recently had a photo shoot with our friend Kim.  We wanted to have some nice Team Juloa pics before our time here is up.  Not only will these serve as an early anniversary gift to each other, they will be reminders of our memorable time here in Okinawa.  Here are a few of my favorites.

I love how this one on the beach steps looked and, not to be completely vain, but I really like my hair in this shot.  Again, I'm keeping it real, people.

We live right by the huge cement "jacks" that line the seawall and knew we wanted a pic of these beasts.  I like how this one captures not only the jacks, but the coastline with the buildings as well.

Our super serious shot.  I'll admit that it was hard for me to NOT smile.

And a silly shot with a funky japanese sign. 

This is my favorite one with the dogs.  Sadie was not into the pictures that day and was much more interested in smelling everything.  Thankfully she looked okay in a few shots. In one of the dog pictures we all look great....except for her....she looks like an emaciated rat.  And, no, I'm not posting that one.  Let's just go with one she actually cooperated in.

At first we didn't think the seawall would work because it was filled with tagging instead of artwork (yes, I know that one can argue that this is a form of art, but you know what I mean....).  As you can see, the tagging actually ended up working out for us after all and this is one of my absolute favorites because it captures the colors of the seawall perfectly.

This was taken in American Village and is one of Noa's favorites.  He says it's his favorite because of the ferris wheel, but I think it's because he obviously said something that cracked me up.  Yes, he sure does know how to make me laugh.

Call me a hopeless romantic, but I just think this one is so sweet.  I have it as my desktop wallpaper right now, in fact.

We call this our "modeling" shot. Calvin Klein, eat your heart out.

Yes, we were dancing outside.

Yes, it was 7:30 in the morning.

Yes, we know we are dorks.

Yes, it was fun!

Last one.  We had to get one with the "Boss" Tommy Lee.  These vending machines are EVERYWHERE in Okinawa, so it wouldn't be right to leave him out.  

There are so much more, but I'm trying to keep this post a normal length and not bore all my readers away.  Hope you enjoyed them and a big thanks to Kim for helping us keep our Okinawa memories alive for years to come!

Tao

Last week I joined some friends from work to see a performance by Tao.  Tao reminds me of Eisa drumming meets Stomp.  It was AWESOME.  I don't have many pictures because apparently you aren't supposed to bring your camera (yes, I was told to put my camera away...).  But I did get this ONE good shot.

Their website is pretty good and I found out that they were performing in the states earlier this year!  I would definitely see them again if given the chance.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll tour in the states again next year. 

Seawall Strolls

With our new house guest here, our routine has changed quite a bit. Bailey requires daily walks, so each morning I get up at dawn and take him out. I repeat this in the afternoon and then right before bed.

I am really enjoying the time with Bailey. He's trained quite well by his owners. They've used an e-collar to train him.

Basically I hang on to this little remote while Bailey walks with me. I've only had to use the shock function a couple of times when we first walked him. I actually tried it on myself first just to make sure I wouldn't hurt him (shocking yes, hurting no). Now, I barely need to use that function. He responds right away to me. One of my favorite things to do with him is to have him stay in a sit position and then walk away. After 20 yards or so, I "release" him and he comes running at full speed. It's awesome.

Also his tail never stops wagging!

On the occasion that I do see someone approaching, I immediately have him "heel," which he does promptly and will stay like this until I again "release" him.

There's not too much too look at. Our end of the seawall is not frequented since our stretch is mostly made up of factories. I can't even begin to describe some of the odors that come from some of those buildings. Let's just say that it makes picking up dog poo not so bad after all.

There's lots of strange artwork and tagging on the wall. Sometimes I find it artsy...other times I'm just annoyed by it. But, by far my biggest annoyance are the STAIRS. I LOATHE the STAIRS. The STAIRS are EVIL!

Okay, okay, I realize that's a little dramatic, but the six flights up seem like an eternity. I guess I should be happy since I'm trying to get in better shape, but when my calves are screaming at me, it's hard to stay positive.

Still this face makes it all worth it. What a good boy!

Laundry Woes

Ah, the joys of doing laundry in Japan.

These pants just came out of the dryer. I don't know if you can tell from the picture but they are really wrinkled. It looks like they were balled up and I just unrolled them after a washing as a ball. But, no, sadly this is how much of our laundry looks after going through our little Japanese dryer. I would line dry, but we only have so much space and I hate when the clothes are stiff. Also, we at least have a rockin' iron.

I have a theory that the dryer does it on purpose to mock us. Then it secretly laughs when we empty it.

Oh well, at least it was a beautiful day with a lovely sunset.

How to Make a Shisa

It's spring break! I decided to spend my last spring break in Okinawa staying put, enjoying this lovely island, catching up on some work, and spending time with friends. On Monday, I joined some friends from work for a trip up north for a shisa dog-creating trip.

We arrived to a garden full of hand-made shisa, flowers, and other gems.

Perhaps one reason behind all these shisa on the property is to serve as inspiration in creating your own...more on that in a little bit. Now, on to the process of creating your very own shisa.

Step one, choose a base. These are created ahead of time using concrete and terracotta pieces. They are posed in the traditional stances of shisa dogs in Okinawa.

There are a lot to choose from....

Here is the one I chose.

Next, set down your base in your work area. Your clay is prepared ahead of time. We had a choice of yellow or red. I'm a traditionalist, so I went with red.

The third step is the most fun. Slather the base with the clay, forming the mouth, eyes, teeth and any other parts you want on your shisa. Use terracotta pieces for the ears and tail.

After covering the base with clay, adding the tail and ears, and forming the face, it's time to add embellishments. Shells are a popular choice. I used a lot of sea glass and some in our group used coral or other materials.

Then, let it dry for several days. Here's my final product:

I used mostly sea glass with a little bit of coral for embellishments. The backside shows more of the glass "mane" that I made.

Here is another from the group with lots of shells.

This one has bits of broken pottery on it.

The "artist" in the group made one with an awesome mane of coral. I might just have to do this when I make my second one. Shisa are usually seen in pairs; one is a male and the other a female. So, I'll be back to make the mate. Oh, this one is also texturized using a shell pattern all over. Awesome, right?

When they dry and solidify, the color is a little softer and natural looking. Here are some more shisa from the property. This one was made using the yellow clay.

This GIANT one was my absolute favorite. I just love the eyes. I'm also thinking of using the cute eyes with my next shisa. It's a happy shisa!

This one uses different color clays which really makes the features stand out.

Lastly, be sure to play with the cute French Bulldogs on the property. Too cute! Maybe they are living models for the shisa? Could be!

I'll be sure to post pics of shisa #2 when I make that one.